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 Veteran
Posts: 218
Location: Ohio | My wife and I are having a debate over whether to cover our horse trailer in winter. It is 38ft long and we don't have the option of putting it in a barn, my first choice. A professional tarp for this thing would be almost a thousand dollars and just not in the budget. A good tarp (30x60) will run about $200. I think it would be a good idea to tarp during the winter as we don't trailer in the winter anyway here in Ohio. What do you all do and do you have any problems with that, scratching etc.
Thanks... |
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Expert
Posts: 2957
  
Location: North Carolina | The problems I've seen with tarping are: 1. Scratches & wear from the wind rubbing the tarp on the trailer. 2. Moisture captured between the paint and the tarp causing rust. |
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Expert
Posts: 5870
Location: western PA | I ditto HP. Most of the trailers I've seen tarped in the Fall have their tarps off or ripped apart by New Years. Some people will tie them at every grommet hole. Some will use water filled jugs every so often. The LQs' external gear usually tears holes in the tarps. As soon as the wind can get underneath, it's a matter of time before they fail. We don't tarp or cover our trailers during the winter, and have had no problems as a result. Our weather probably is similar to yours. |
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Regular
Posts: 85
| What about 'shrink' wrapping it, like they do boats? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 399
Location: Ottawa, Illinois 61350 | If you can't put it under roof; leave it be. Sealing it up with shrink wrap, or tarping it will create more problems than it will solve. |
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| when we had our camper we covered it with the 3 ply rv cover very soft material, they are breathable, a real pain to put on and take off but works great, I have seen them for horse trailers. If we did not store our horse trailer indoors I would get one for it. I would not use a tarp. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 175
Location: Florida | Agree with last poster. Look at RV Tarps - they will not scratch when flapping in the wind. Plastic or canvas tarps will scratch painted or aluminum from normal wind action. Our RV will not fit in the barn and has not had any scratches from the RV tarp, even with the high winds we get. The Horse trailer goes inside. Just do a search for RV covers after measuring your trailers total length. Go with a toy hauler or 5th wheel if you have a gooseneck - standard trailer if you have a bumper pull. It will be tall for a horse trailer as RVs are a bit taller, but you can tie it underneath to pull it tight using the grommets along the bottom. Leaving it uncovered would be ok as long as you either dont have a roof mounted AC or other openings that can leak from accumulated or blowing snow/ice. You can also get AC only covers if the remainder of the trailer is tight. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 399
Location: Ottawa, Illinois 61350 | The difference between MOST RV's and an aluminum skin on a horse trailer, is that most RV's use a FRP (composite) type material's for their walls, and a cover rubbing on it, will not damage the coating like an aluminum exterior on a horse trailer. The baked enamel surface on an aluminum horse trailer is a very thin coat, and consistent rubbing from a "flopping in the wind" tarp or cover, in time will rub thru to the bare aluminum. We have had customers use this type of cover, and have had it happen. I would much rather see you cover the A/C units and or vents than try and cover the whole trailer. Good luck to you. |
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Veteran
Posts: 218
Location: Ohio | I had not thought of just covering the AC unit. I may look into that. |
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Tarping a horse trailer in winter
